An Answer
by Cugami
Summary: Gundam Wing. Wufei x Meiran. Meiran was stuck with a school paper and finally ate her pride to ask Wufei for help. He didn't help her.


An Answer

* * *

Meiran pulled herself away from the table and craned her neck to the side. She'd been staring at the computer for the longest time and trying to think of a decent paragraph to continue her paper but nothing's coming inside her head. She snorted and crossed her arms. She looked at the clock hanging by the wall and scowled. It was already very late and she wanted to sleep but not until she finished this paper that was due the next day. 

"Aren't you going to bed?" someone asked from the doorway.

She frowned and looked at the person who disturbed her and it was Wufei. "Not yet, why?"

"You've been there for hours…I'm going to bed." He snorted as he left her at the study room.

"Whatever…" She snorted and turned her attention back to the paper she was finishing when an idea struck her, "OI! You still there?!"

He opened the door and replied. "Why? And DON'T shout."

"You're supposed to be smart, right?"

"I know I am."

"Vain…but anyway…" she scowled. She didn't want help…well…she wanted help, but her pride wouldn't let her. "Hn."

"Just ask already…"

"Well…..I've got this…this…" she looked at the computer monitor and glared at it. "I got THIS."

"A computer, so?"

She glared at him.

"Deadline, right?" 

She glared harder.

"You want my help, right?" He snickered.

If she could just kill him with her eyes…

"Well...ask for it. I will not give help to a person who doesn't want it." He crossed his arms, entering the study room.

**He just HAD to stress that out…** She gritted her teeth, "I have a deadline for tomorrow…so….I've been here for I don't know how long and I'm still not finished. Figure that out."

He glared, "All you have to do is ask. What's your problem?"

"Fine."

He raised an eyebrow.

"I need your help." She muttered darkly. "And don't make me repeat it."

"I didn't hear 'please'."

"PLEASE help me with this." She hissed.

He shrugged and pulled a chair. "So what's that about in the first place?"

"Could you just read it and just tell me what's needed?" She stood up and walked around the room to stretch her legs.

He just looked at her but then, he faced the computer and read. He became silent.

"Well?" She queried.

He didn't reply.

"WELL?"

He frowned at the screen and didn't look at Meiran as he replaid, "What is…love?"

"Yes. What is love? I've already explained the plot and everything in there…but then I have to explain love too. So what is it?"

"You DON'T know love??" He glared at her.

"Well...SHOULD I?"

"Go read the story again and maybe you'd understand." He stood up from his chair and started towards the door.

"I already did. You're already finished with the same paper, so help me now. I'm not asking you to do it for me." 

"That's all there is left in your paper. You've written everything already…just explain love there from the story."

"I wouldn't have asked if I knew wha…" she stopped in mid-sentence as Wufei left her. She glared at the closed door, "…so much for that idea."

She sat back down at the chair and faced the screen. Honestly, she doesn't know how to explain love, even if she'd read the story for the 3rd time already. The story wasn't even clear. It was just a short story about some boy and girl, as always, who went out for a while, got back together then left each other and then got back together again. Only to leave again. Then girl died alone when she grew old, and the boy died shortly, also alone. So what was love there?

Meiran sat there silently and contemplated on what to write. And still she had no idea. So, she decided to save the file and just take a walk for a while. Anywhere would do, just not inside that room with the computer and the rest of the books of the clan. She walked out of the study room to find the antique vase near the door. It was huge and the cracks were clearly visible, and yet their family treasured it. She made her way to the living room and saw the chairs, the rocking chair of her grandmother, the chandelier, the emblem of the Dragon clan and a lot of other memorabilia. She walked to the wall where picture frames were all lined up. She looked at them even though she already knew what she'd see, the pictures of everyone in her family, even Wufei's family was there. As she moved on, she kept looking at the pictures that showed of her grandmother as a little girl, her grandmother's marriage to her grandfather, her mom's 18th birthday and so on and so forth with the rest of her clan. Then she found the most recent pictures, her wedding with Wufei. It wasn't a fond memory. 

They placed her in one carriage carried by men, and her husband was with her inside. They were to be taken to the house, --- well, the part of the house that they'd be staying at --- after the marriage ceremony. They hadn't talked ever since. When they got there, the same old ceremonies were done. They were led to the bedroom that was covered with rose petals, and red silks all over with a red curtain. The so-called maidens opened the door for the two of them as they reluctantly went in. And finally the door was closed, leaving the two of them alone. All they did was stare at each other, then it started to become a glare and someone started to say something that came out an all out war between them. And so on and so forth with their married life. 

She snorted and rolled her eyes and continued to look at the other photos. There were some that was taken in China when they visited Wufei's ancestral graves. After they offered the incense and the ceremony was over, they went all over China's historical sights. It was more like Wufei forcing Meiran to go to each one of them and saying all the details of the historical events that had happened thousands of years ago in ancient China as if she hadn't had enough with history class. Then they went to bookstores and it took them hours…well…it took him hours to choose what book to buy. And after the book tour she just had, it was going to be her turn. So she forced him to visit the old temples where the monks used to teach their martial arts. They went to all sort of dojos found in China. She pulled him and managed to make him sit in with her in the martial arts class that they found there

"There is NO way that we're not going to that Shaolin Temple I just read about!"

"That's NOT needed!"

"I went with you with your BOOK TOUR so YOU'RE coming WITH ME in that TEMPLE!"

"What if I say I DON'T WANT TO!!"

"I said that over and over. What did you do? DRAG ME. So I'm going to do the same. A tooth for a tooth!"

It took them days to do all of those and their family left early without them because they were still forcing each other to go here and there at the day of their flight back to the colony.

"I can't believe we wasted that much money…" she muttered as she saw the pictures of her and Wufei that were unintentionally taken by her grandmother in their stay in China. There were pictures where Wufei was talking to some vendor and Meiran was holding an item with him pointing at it. Then there was also that other picture where Meiran was massaging her head and Wufei was standing in line holding 4 books. Another picture was of Wufei scolding Meiran for buying a whole set of mangas. Then there were also pictures that they took with other people since their families already left both of them in China. One was at the book tour, and Wufei was letting a book be signed by the author. Then at the temple, a group picture with the people who played as monks. Also at the martial arts classes that they attended, there were group pictures. 

Then there were the class pictures of their batch in school also, from kindergarten till high school. She smiled when she saw the class pictures. She couldn't believe she was that little before, and now she's married…though she was forced in it. **Time sure flies fast….** 

She snickered at one picture. She couldn't remember who took it, probably one of her cousins who got a chance to sneak a shot of them together. It was a Chinese New Year, and so there were dragon dances everywhere and also firecrackers and things like that. There was a huge crowd and watching the dance would be so hard since both of them weren't tall at that time. So Meiran climbed up some bars to see and Wufei followed her, ranting at how she was shouldn't have climbed it.

"Woman! Don't you even know that climbing like this is dangerous??! You are such an idiot sometimes." 

"You followed me here, what does that make you? Another idiot."

"Why you…"

"But aren't you glad we're seeing the dragon dance from here?"

Wufei looked down and saw indeed a clear view of the dragon dance. "But still…"

"Just enjoy the show, alright?"

He just snorted. Since the bars weren't that big and the space weren't at all very large, Wufei was overlapping Meiran's back. And the picture was when they were talking with each other. So, it looked sweet if one didn't know what they were talking about at that time.

Meiran went up to the room and told herself to just sleep so she can wake up early the next day to continue her paper. When she entered the room, Wufei was already fast asleep on his side of the bed. He was still holding a book and the light was on by his bedside table. She silently made her way on her own side and carefully lay on the bed. 

She couldn't sleep because of the nagging feeling about her unfinished paper. So she stood up from the bed and promised herself to finish the paper before going to sleep. She was on her way out when she decided to take the book that Wufei was holding. She removed it from his hands slowly to not wake him up, and she also took his glasses off his face. While fixing the things, she couldn't help but notice the ring he wore. She looked at her own ring and smiled. She hurriedly turned off the light by his bedside and made her way downstairs quietly, back to the study.

When she got downstairs, she opened her file again and finished up her paper. Once in a while she would stop and frown, but then she'd type again.

Wufei yawned and opened his eyes. He fell asleep reading a book then he realized that his book wasn't in his hands, and the room was dark. He turned on the light and saw that his books were neatly arranged at the table by his side, including his glasses. Then he looked beside him and saw that Meiran wasn't there. He looked at the clock and frowned sleepily. It was almost 2 am and she still didn't go up from the study. **Baka onna…** He stood up from his bed and left the room. 

He opened the door to the study and found the computer still on, and Meiran still staring at the computer. He shook his head and walked towards her, "Onna…don't tell me you're still stuck there?"

Meiran didn't reply from her seat and he frowned. She must've been really mad when he left her a while ago. "Hey, look…it's not a hard question…did you read the book aga…" He stopped talking when he saw her.

Meiran was leaning on her chair, and sleeping tiredly. He raised both his eyebrows up and couldn't help the snort and the smile on his face. He should've known that she'd fall asleep. He might as well try finishing up her paper though she'd really get mad at him the next day for doing that. He looked at the computer screen and was about to type when he saw that there were some paragraphs added from when he last saw it. He read the new paragraphs so that he'd know what to add.

"_There's no real definition of love. It is what you make of it. In the story, the couple isn't together in the end, and yet somehow, they are. The time they spent together is less compared to the time that they spent apart. Is there love? Yes there is. Love isn't measured by the time spent, but it is what is made. In each time that two people shared together, it's either love grows or dies. An hour is enough to make a pledge of love between two people. Words exchanged, actions shown, even in a short span of time, it can determine how much love is present. Separation also leads to the knowledge of love. The time spent apart made them realize things, be it good or bad. Love is more than words._" 

He wasn't expecting that from her. He looked at her sleeping form on the chair and his face became thoughtful. He saved the file without adding anything and turned off the computer. He came to her side and whispered, "Meiran? Hey…don't slee…" He just rolled his eyes. He knew that she wouldn't wake up with mere whispers. And she looked tired enough. **Probably from thinking too hard…onna needs to exercise her brains more often.** He snickered and shook his head.

Wufei placed his arms around her and lifted her up from the chair, slowly, without waking her up. He adjusted her weight on him and made his way to their room carefully. They were almost near the second floor when Meiran stirred and woke up.

"Did I wake you?" He asked.

She tried to remember where she was and how she got there when she should've been facing a computer and not Wufei's chest. "Not really…" She replied, half-asleep. 

He contemplated whether to put her down or not. He decided not to, "Go back to sleep, we're almost there."

She yawned and nodded. She closed her eyes again and snuggled unintentionally. Wufei smiled, **She must be real sleepy to agree just like that…**

He laid her down on her side of the bed then placed the blanket over her, he heard her murmur something. "Thanks Wu…"

"It's ok…" he replaid as he laid down as well, "…goodnight, Mei."

"…night…" she yawned again. 


End file.
